Courses+Fall+2015

__ Science, Technology & Society - 4 credits (STSH/STSS 1110) Breyman TF 2 - 2:50, 3 - 3:50 pm __ An introduction to the social, historical, and ethical influences on modern science and technology. Cases include development of the atomic bomb, mechanization of the workplace, Apollo space program, and others. Readings are drawn from history, fiction, and social sciences; films and documentary videos highlight questions about the application of scientific knowledge to human affairs. The class is designed to give students freedom to develop and express their own ideas. This is a communication-intensive course.

__ Into Cultural Anthropology - 4 credits (STSS 1510) Fortun TF 10 - 11:50 pm __ An introduction to human societies and cultures in comparative perspective, from tribal societies to complex societies such as the United States. Emphasis on ethnographic descriptions of other cultures such as on the interpretation of cultural symbolism and on topical issues such as medical anthropology.

__ Sociology - 4 credits (STSS 1520) Mascarenhas TF 2 - 3:50 pm __ A study of the principles and concepts of sociology and their application to the study of society and self. Students are introduced to the scope, materials, and methods of sociology. The issues and problems to be studied come from basic social institutions such as the family, science, and religion. Other topics may include love, crime, political economy, power, population growth, social class, and minority and ethnic relations.

__ PDI Studio I - 4 credits (IHSS 1610) __ __Bennett/Costelloe-Kuehn/Nieusma MR 2-4:50 pm__ The first design studio in the Product Design and Innovation Program introduces students to general design through a series of short projects. The projects stress creative thinking and invention, observation and perception, communication and visualization, sketching, photography, model-making, and especially open-ended exploration.

__ American Politics in Crisis - 4 credits (STSS 2290) Winner MR 2 - 3:50 pm __ This course analyzes the workings of major institutions in American society and politics during a period in which key parts of our society seem dysfunctional, having lost their integrity and ability solve problems. Through a careful reading of texts in political science and social criticism we discuss symptoms, causes and possible remedies.

__ Environment & Society - 4 credits (STSS 2300) Costelloe-Kuehn MR 10 - 11:50 am __ The course’s main theme is ecological sustainability: what it is, how it might be achieved, how it can be maintained. The theory and practice of sustainability is explored in three parts: through an examination of the concepts, actors, and processes of society-environment interactions; through an analysis of environmental philosophies and models for action; and by addressing the problems and prospects for building sustainable societies. This course prepares students for advanced environmental humanities and social sciences courses.

__ PDI Studio III - 4 credits __ __(IHSS 2610)__ __Nieusma TF 2 - 4:50 pm__ This studio design course focuses on an enriched sense of problem definition through an emphasis on the reach and interconnectedness of technology, and the conditionality of design selection criteria. Its design exercises, readings, and discussion press beyond marginal substitutions toward a broadened sense of possibility from, for example, “hypercars” and human-powered homes to small-scale local agriculture and extreme ecological living systems. This is a communication-intensive course.

__ Reading in STSH - 1-6 credits (STSH/STSS 2940) STAFF TBA __ With an individual faculty member on an agreed-upon topic.

__ Sustainability Problems - 4 credits (STSS 4270) Malazita TF 12 - 1:50 pm __ In this course students will map the matrix of problems that make sustainability difficult – problems with the U.S. political, legal, and educational system, with media, culture, and individual behavior. Students will also identify sustainability pathways in transportation, urban design, education, alternative energy, etc. Throughout, students will analyze and try to produce effective environmental communication.

__ Sustainability Education - 4 credits (STSS 4280) Fortun/ STAFF MR 4:00 - 5:50 pm W 9 - 11:50 am __ This course examines needs for and challenges of delivering environmental education in different settings. Students critically review existing environmental education curricula then design and deliver their own to K-12 students. The history of public education in the United States, factors shaping contemporary education, various approaches to environmental education, and the complex challenge of interdisciplinary curriculum design are examined. Students in the course develop and demonstrate their own educational and environmental values.

__ 21st Century Risks - 4 credits (STSS 4330) Woodhouse TF 2-3:50 pm __ This course covers two main types of technological risk: (1) innovating in ways that endanger health, quality of life, environment, or other goals; and (2) failing to pursue innovations that people need. Some understanding of the technical details is a prerequisite for making sense of emerging technologies, but the course focuses more on media, public opinion, political decision making, technologists’ incentives, and other social issues. This is a communication-intensive course.

__ PDI Studio V - 4 credits (STSH 4610) Eglash MR 9 - 11:50 am __ The fifth design studio for Programs in Design and Innovation, this course introduces students to Human Centered Design, Participatory Design, and similar approaches that draw on ethnographic techniques and other user-centered methods. With a focus on information technology, we will work with one community group throughout the semester, collaborating in an iterative process that culminates in real-world trials and assessment of our co-designed products. . __ Consumer Culture - 4 credits (STSH/ STSS 4720) Akera TF 10 - 11:50 am __ What is consumer culture? What are its roots, its consequences, and alternatives? Documentaries and the research of anthropologists, historians, and religious scholars examine consumer culture in the US and UK including recognition of the global locations in which our consumer goods are made. Topics include buying and selling, shopping, retail, manufacture, material culture, pricing, consumer goods, disposal, kinship, identity, exchange, and advertising, with attention paid to differences in race, class, and gender.

__ Public Service Internship - 4 credits (STSH/ STSS 4800) Malazita T 4 - 6:50 pm __ This course offers an insight into the public policy process from the vantage point of a part-time internship in the public or private sector as well as an opportunity to explore a career option before actually embarking upon it. The following is a partial list of the large number of possible internships: airport planning, architecture, banking, biological research, clinical psychology, computer science, consumer protection, corporate management, engineering, environmental planning, geology, local government, materials and mechanical engineering, noise pollution abatement, personnel management review, premedical, public finance and taxation, public health management, public relations, social work, state legislature, stock market, transportation planning, and urban planning.

__ Evolution, Cognition & Culture - 4 credits (STSH/ STSS 4961) Caporael MR 2 - 3:50 Pm __ What does evolutionary theory add to our understanding of human behavior, cognition, organization, and society? This course presents new perspectives in the philosophy of biology, particularly as it relates to humans, levels of selection, nature-nurture issues, and cultural evolutionary theories. The course will focus on new directions from extended evolutionary theory as applied to humans as well as the relationship between biology and society.

__ China & the US - 4 credits (STSS 4962) Winner MR 12 - 1:50 pm __ This class studies the social relations, politics, and economics of China in its relationship to the United States. Beginning with readings on modern Chinese history, the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Communist Party, Cultural Revolution, new opening of relations between the U.S. and China, and economic reforms of the past three decades, we will discuss a range of contemporary issues of concern to both the American and Chinese people.

__ Religion &Society - 4 credits (STSS 4963) Royer 4 - 5:50 pm __ This course is an introduction to the anthropological study of religion. Based on the study of local religious experiences and practices, cultural anthropology has generated a variety of theories on the nature and functions of religion and ritual which will be examined throughout the course in relation to ethnographic cases. We will also analyze relationships between beliefs and their economic and political context as well as contemporary issues of religious conflict and identity.

__ Sustainability Research Design - 4 credits (STSS 4964) Costelloe-Kuehn W 10 - 11:50 am, 2-3:50 pm __ This course guides students through research design for a social science thesis, resulting in a thesis proposal and plan of work. The course helps students think about and focus their research goals, and identify sources of data. Students produce extensive research memos every week, which feed into the proposal due at the end of the semester. Restricted to STS, SUST and DIS majors.

__ Futurism: Utopias& Dystopias - 4 credits (STSS 4965) Woodhouse MR 12 - 1:50 pm __ Fiction-based, including sci fi, but also social and scientific scenarios on future work/leisure, radical abundance via nanotechnology, virtual realities, sexualities, real democracy, transhumanism, space colonization. Classroom: Discussion, videos, oral presentations – not lecture. Major research project of student’s choice. Considerable reading.

__ International Econ & Global - 4 credits ( STSS 4966) Duchin MR 10 - 11:50 pm __ This course investigates the significance of economic globalization, covering the following topics: international trade and financial flows, technological innovation and intellectual property, technology transfer, national government and transnational corporations, natural resources, health and the environment, impacts on selected industries and countries, and roles of the world trade organization and international monetary fund. The major controversies surrounding globalization are identified, and alternative arguments are evaluated based on available evidence.

__ Economy, Technology and Sustainability - 4 credits ( STSS 4967) Duchin MR 2 - 3:50 pm __ This course examines the relationships between the economy and the material world. It identifies the most critical challenges to sustainable economic development on local to global scales and ways of addressing them. The course focuses on the challenges surrounding water, land, materials and energy and explores technological alternatives, consumption behavior, public policy, civil society institutions and social movements as avenues for meeting the major challenges to sustainability.

__ Senior Project - 4 credits (STSH /STSS 4980) Malazita W 4 - 5:50 pm __ Ordinarily consists of independent research, supervised by a faculty member, culminating in a written thesis. A creative endeavor such as a videotape or computer program may be substituted with departmental permission. This is a communication-intensive course.

__ Reading in STSS - 1-6 credits (STSS 4940) STAFF TBA __ With an individual faculty member on an agreed-upon topic.

__ A Social Animal - 4 credits ( STSS 4960) Caporael M 4:30 - 5:50 pm, W 6:00-8:20PM __ Drawing on biological and cultural perspectives, this course considers continuities and discontinuities between humans, animals, and digital beings from a number of perspectives, including those relating cognition, sociality and embodiment. Broadly we explore the attribution of human characteristics to non-humans and machine characteristics to humans. We consider what makes an entity a “social animal” through comparative studies, experiments in cognitive science, and observations in the wild and how such work influence, and is influenced by, familiar concepts such as society, innateness, mating, ethics and what constitutes “normal.”

__ Research Methods in STS - 3 credits (STSS 6110) Mascarenhas M 10 am- 12:50 pm __ This course offers an overview of social science techniques and research design and logistics and approaches widely used in STS.

__ Science Studies - 3 credits (STSS 6200) Fortun R 10 - 12:50 pm __ A broad survey of the field of science studies from the vantage point of various disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives that have contributed to the development of science studies. The texts, theories, and arguments that were important for the historical development of the field are covered, as well as contemporary issues. The seminar provides the resources and develops the skill needed for understanding, criticizing, constructing, and developing research in the field.

__ Environment & Social Theory - 3 credits (STSS 6300) Breyman T 9 - 11:50 am __ This course focuses on contemporary social theory to understand the historical origins, institutional structures, and dominant trajectories of environmental-social change. Three main questions structure our inquiry into the links among science, technology, environment, and social theory: 1) why do modern societies degrade their environments? 2) why do environmental movements arise, or what are the social structural, cultural, and political origins of environmentalism? and 3) can some particular politics curtail environmental degradation?

__ Reading in STSH/ STSS - 1-6 credits (STSH /STSS 6940) STAFF TBA __ With an individual faculty member on an agreed-upon topic.